Machine for applying wrapping materials to canisters



1933- w. H WALL 1,940,517

MACHINE FOR APPLYING WRAPPING MATERIALS T0 CANISTERS Filed May 17, 1932 5 Sheets-$heet l INVE NT 08 Dec. 19, 1933. w w 1,940,517

MACHINE FOR APPLYING WRAPPING MATERIALS TO CANISTERS Filed May 17 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR wall Q u gun-1 ,QMUWM Dec. 19, 1933- w H, WALL 1,940,517

MACHINE FOR APPLYING WRAPPING MATERIALS TO CANISTERS Filed May 17, 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR ZUM ,M

Dec. 19, 1933. w. WALL 1,940,517

MACHINE FOR APPLYING WRAPPING MATERIALS TO CANISTERS Filed May 17, 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 I Ill/[Ill 5774 INVENTOR 2.16 film/(4! (J -LL J KM 1933- w. H. WALL ,940,517

MACHINE FOR APPLYING WRAPPING MATERIALS TO CANISTERS Filed May 17; 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet s JNVENTOR .Mim%.

Patented Dec. 19, 1933 7 1,940,517 MACHINE tron APPLYING WRAPPING MATERIALS ,TO CANISTERS William Henry Wall, London, England, assignor to A. Wander Limited, London, England, a

British Company Application May 17,1932, Serial No. 611,79 3, and

in Great Britain June lS, 1931 a Claims. (01. 216, 58)

This invention comprises improvements in automatic machines for wrapping canisters'with paper or the like.

Hitherto it has been customary in the wrapping of canisters by hand, to wrap'the sheet of paper or other material round the canister so as to form a cylinder of the paper encircling the canister and projecting at each end beyond the ends thereoi,- and then-to fold .over the projecting ends of the paper, pressing the folds'flat against the ends of the canister.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide an automaticmachine in which some of these operations are performed mechanically. Various machinesfor wrapping canisters are known. Generally speaking, in such machines the canister to be wrapped has applied to its periphery a narrow strip of adhesive and is rolled over the top wrapper of a pile thereof. -As it rolls over this pile of wrappers, it attaches to itself the said top wrapper, whichthus becomes encircled round the canister. The canisters are passed in succession over the pile of wrappers and the latter are accommodated within a magazine, the floor of which is progressively raised for example by the action of a counter-balance weight as the wrappers are removed one by one from the top of the pile, so that at all times the top wrapper of the pile is located in the path of thecanisters.

A difficulty has been experienced with ma chines of this type in that the action of a coun ter-balance weight in the magazine feed often tends to be unreliable. This is partly due to the progressive lessening of the weight of the pile of wrappers in the magazine as the magazine empties. V 1

According to a feature of the present invention in a machine of the type above referred to acontinuously-driven endless band is provided for rolling canisters across the top of a pile of wrappers which are supported on wrapper-supporting means which are progressively raised by positive action feed mechanism. The supply of canisters to the endless band is controlled by detent means ,and actuatingmeanswhich are independent of the travelling band are provided for operating the detent means and the positive action feed mechanism in timed relation to one another.

As will be appreciated, by this means the magazine feed is rendered positive and independent or" the condition of the pile of wrappers in the magazine, and, moreover, there is the additional advantage that the pile of wrappers presents t0 the canisters passing over it a firm 'andsub stantiallyunyielding surface as compared with the case where thev pile is advanced by the action of a counter-balance weight.

According to a further'feature oi the invention, a canister wrapping machine may comprise, in conjunction with the combination of parts referred to earlier herein, a magazine for containing a supply of pamphlets or the like to bewrapped in with the canister, said, supply being disposed in a pile,. incombination with means to remove the pamphlets from the pile, one by one in time withthe canister feed through c the machine, and to place the removed pamphlet on the wrapper so that it becomeswrapped around the canister therein.

In this connection, it Will be appreciated of course that in place of or in addition to apamphlet, any other convenient form or enclosure couldbe wrapped in with the canister, for example a coupon,-postcard, envelope or the like. v

The pamphlet-magazinefeed may take any convenient form. 'Thusthe pile of pamphlets or the like in the magazinemay simply b83113" ranged to descendbygravityto the exit of'the magazine, that is to. say, to the position, upon arriving at which, they may become automatioally removed from the magazine and placed in position upon a wrapper. Alternatively,v the pamphlets may be. fed upwardly through the magazine by a positive-action feed-mechanism similar to that referred to above for feeding the pile of wrappers to the canister-wrapping position in the machine;

One practical embodiment of the now be described, by way of example.

In the drawings:- V Figure 1is a side elevation of the machine which constitutes a wrappingunit. r I

Figure 2 is an'encl elevationof the same. Figures is a perspective view of the essential portions of the mechanism, and 1 Figures 4 to 8 are details of this machine. The wrapping unit. comprises an elongated horizontal table 10 (Figure 1) above which are mounted a pair of rails 11- parallel to one another and extending in the direction of the length of the table from a point hear one end thereof to a point near the centre of the table.

The'canisterslZ to be wrapped are fed on to these rails one by one from a sloping supply chute 14 at the bottom of which is an automatic gate adapted to permitthedelivery on to the rails ofone canister at a time from a train of invention will the gate. The gate operates in this manner in time with movements of the various other parts of the unit as explained later.

The gateat the foot of the chute may take any convenient form. In this particular embodiment of the invention, the gate comprises a pair of stops, 15', 16 situated one (15) in advance of the other (16) in the path of the canisters 12 and reciprocable in time with one another into and out from said path in such a manner as to admit one canister at a time into the space between them and release one canister at a time from said space. To this end, the stops take the form of pivoted arms which are swingable about their pivots 17, 18 to bring their extremities into and out from the path of the canisters and which have such swinging movement imparted to them by means of cams 19 operatively connected to the main driving shaft of the unit. As will be seenfrom the figure the stop 16 is yieldingly mounted upon the arm which carries it, being drawn downwardly by a spring. If by any chance one of the canisters .12 should stick on the chute 14 so that it comes under the stop 16 then, owing to the yielding mounting of this stop, no damage will be done to the canister. The stop 15 may be made similarly yielding'if desired.

Upon the canisters being delivered on to the rails aforesaid, they become rolled along the rails towards the centre of the table bythe action of an endless continuously moving friction belt 20, the path of which extends in the direction of length of thetable and is positioned immediately above the space between'the rails.

Just prior to the canister reaching the inner end of the rails, it passes'a co-axial pair of cementing wheels 21 which are spaced apart from one another withthe axis 22 horizontal and at right angles to the direction of length of the rails. The periphery of these wheels, immediatelyabove the axis of the wheels, is positioned at a level slightly .higher than the level of the top of the rails 11 'at the point where the rails extend past the wheels. The wheels are rotated and dip into'a body of liquid cement contained in a vessel 23 situated beneath the wheels, and as the wheels'rotate, they deposita narrow strip of the cement upon the periphery of the canister 12 at or near the extreme ends thereof as the canisters pass the wheels on their way 'to the centre of the table.

" In this connection, it will be understood of course that the canister rolls over the periphery of the cementing wheels as it passes them.

In order to ensure proper contact between the canister 12 and the cementing wheels 21, that portion of the friction belt 20 which extends immediately over the cementing wheels is pressed downwardly towards the table by means of spring-loaded pressure rollers 24, 25 having means whereby the tension of the loading springs may be adjusted at will.

Upon reaching the end of the rails 11, the canister becomes delivered onto the top sheet of a pile 26 of wrappers accommodated within a verticalopen-top magazine 27 situated approximately at the centre of the table. p

The level of said top sheet of the pileof wrappers is positioned a short distance below the level" of the top of the rails and the latter are sloped downwardly at the extreme end 28 where they deliver thecanisters on to the pile of wrappers. i This arrangement is for the purpose of ensuring certainty of advance of the canister on to'and across the pile of wrappers in the do this by reason of the narrow strips of cement which have previously been deposited upon its periphery in the manner referred to above.

vThe canister, as it rolls across the pile of wrappers in the magazine, not only becomes encircled thus with'a sheet of wrapping material taken from the pile 26, but there is wrapped in with the canister within the encircling sheet of wrapping material, a folded paperpamphlet 29 ,or the like automatically removed from the bottom of a descending pile 30 of such pamphletsaccommodated within a pamphlet magazine 31 mounted above the table at one side of the path of the canisters.

This pamphlet is automatically removed from the descending pile in the magazine by means of a plunger 32 reciprocable horizontally in a direction at right angles to the path of movement of the canisters 12 over the'pile 26 of wrappers in the wrapper magazine 27. This plunger reciprocates upon a horizontal slide 33 mounted upon the table 10 at-the side thereof opposite the side at which the pamphlet 'magazine is situated. The plunger 32 carries at its leading end a pair of jaws 34,- 35 whichopen and close automatically in time with the strokes "of the plunger. 'I'hesejawaupon the plunger having reached the end of its forward stroke, close upon and grip between them, the bottom pamphlet 29 of the pile'30 in the magazine 31 so as to'be capable of withdrawing saidpamphlet from the magazine during the return stroke of the plunger 32. As the plunger returns, therefore, it draws the pamphlet .29 from the magazina-and brings it to a position in which it is vertically over the pile 26 of wrappers in the wrapper magazine. At this point in the return stroke of the plunger 32, the jaws 34, 35'open and drop the pamphlet 29 on to the top sheet of the pile of wrappers, the plunger continuing its retracting movement to the end of the return stroke. At the end of this stroke, the jaws of the plunger and fingers are-clear of the path of the canisters 12 over the pile of wrappers in the wrapper magazine.

Any convenient form of automatic jaw mechanism may be employed for this part of the machine. A form of mechanism which has proved to besatisfactory is one in which the lower jaw 34 is in fixed relation to the plunger 32 and the upper jaw 35 is pivoted at its rear end to the lower jaw. Projecting from the pivot boss 36 of the upper jaw at the rear thereof is a tailpiece 37,between which and the plunger 32 is point between the pivot of the jaw and the free end thereof. The trip lever is also formed'with a short rearwardly extending arm 41 and beneath this arm a third projection 42 from the the path of the pamphlet 29 held in the jaws piece and the plunger. 7

When the plunger jaws 34, 35am open and therefore the knife edge 43 on the said third projection 42 from the boss of the trip lever 39 is in engagement with the recess in the upper surface of the tail-piece 37 projecting from the 'rear of the movablejaw, the finger 40 aforesaid projecting forwardly from the trip lever boss,

is not resting at its point upon the upper surface of the movable jaw 35, but occupies a slightly elevated position in which, approximately at theend of the forward stroke of the plunger, it can abut against a tripping finger 46 positioned in its path to trip the lever and release the mov- -'able jaw 35 so that it can close by the action of the compression spring 38.

This tripping of the lever and consequent closing of the plunger jaw takes place as indicated when the plunger has reached approximately the end of its forward stroke, and the arrangement of parts is such that, at this point, the jaws just project into the path of the descending pile 30 of pamphlets in the pamphlet magazine 31. and are positioned at such a level in relation tosaid pile as to be capable of receiving between them the lowermost pamphlet 29 of the pile upon the said lowermost pamphlet having been slightly separated from the pamphlets above it by a suction device hereinafter described. V

The plunger jaws having thus received between them the lowermost pamphlet 29- of the pile 30 in the pamphlet magazine 31, immediately close as described above, and" the plunger 32 commences its return stroke, removing the pamphlet from the pile with it. 3

Upon the plunger 32, in its return stroke, reaching the point referred to above at which the jaws 34,, 35 are required to open and drop the pamphlet 29-on to the pile 26 of wrappers beneath, said rearwardly extending arm 41 of the trip lever 39 abuts against a roller 47 positioned in its path, and the contour of the said arm 41 is such in relation to the positionof the roller,;that as the plunger continues to retract in its return stroke; the roller cams the 'trip lever 39 about its pivot in the direction to bring the forwardly extending finger;40 of the lever to its said elevated position until the point is reached when the knife edge 43 of the lever drops behind the recess inthe upper surface of the tail-piece 37. In this movement of the triplever 39 the tail-piece 3'7 of the movable jaw 35 is of course depressed against the constraint of the compression spring 38 and the movable jaw 35 is therefore opened to release the pamphlet. In order to ensure that the pamphlet 29 shall be promptly released uponthe opening of the plunger jaws 34, 35, two vertical abutment fingers 48, 49 for the pamphlets are provided on the end of a horizontal plunger 50, reciprocating in time with the pamphlet plunger 32. This abutment plunger 50 is parallel to the pamphlet plunger 32 and it operates to bring the abutment fingers 48, 49 at theend of it momentarily into of the pamphlet plunger. The movements of the abutment plunger '50 are so timed that the fingers at the end of the plunger are brought thus into the path of the withdrawn pamphlet just immediately following 'the' opening of the plunger jaws. As willbe understood. therefore if. there should be any tendencyfor the withdrawn pamphlet to remain between the opened jaws of the plunger as the latter continues its return stroke,

the abutment fingers willimmediately operate to release the pamphletfand cause it properly to drop on to thepile of wrappers below; r

The pamphlet plunger and the abutmentplunger maybe 'reciprocated by any convenient means. Inthe machine now being described, however, these plungers are reciprocated by means of cams5l, 52 operating upon the plungers through the-medium of asuitable arrangement of levers and links;

The plunger 32 is operated through a springlink 53, so that if a misplaced'canister 12 isin the path of this plunger the link will yield to prevent damage to the canister.

The suction device referred to above for slightly separating the lowermost pamphlet 29 from the pile 30 in the magazine 31 may take any convenient form. In this particular. embodiment of the'invention said suction device comprises a sucker 54 connected with a source of vacuum or air under pressure, the communicationbetween the sucker andsaid source beingautomatically controlled by a valve 55 having means for opening and closing'it in time with the strokes of the plungers aforesaid, and the motions of the other parts of the machine. Thus just prior to the pamphlet plunger reaching the end of its for ward stroke, the suction valve is openedto seize the lowermost pamphlet of the pile, this valve remains open until the jaws of the plunger close upon theseparated pamphlet, whereupon immediately the sucker valve closes to release the pamphlet nowgripped between the jaws of the plunger. The sucker 54 is mounted for oscillation about a pivot 56, and it is rocked by a cam 57 on the shaft '74, so that it is inserted into the baseiof the pamphlet magazine 31 into contact with the lowermost pamphlet and then with drawn to pull the pamphlet down so that the jaws 34, 35 can grip it. The valve 55 isoperated by a cam 58 on the shaft 74. i i

The pamphlet 29 having been deposited upon the top. wrapper of the pile 26 in the wrapper magazine 27, a canister 12 immediately rolls on to the pile from the rails 11 and under the control of-the friction bandg20, is forced across the pile of wrappers'and in doing so, as previously described, encircles itself with thetop wrapper of the pile,the pamphlet 29 which hadbeen deposited upon said wrapper being wrapped in between the canister and the wrapper. i The length of the wrapping sheet slightly exceeds (e. g. by aboutlj) the circumference of the canisters so'that the'ends of the wrapper slightly overlap one another along the canister; These overlapping edges of thewrapper are gummed together by an automatic gumming device of the following description. The gumming device comprises an endless travelling band 66 about /2". wide, extending across the pile of wrappers in the wrapper magazine immediately above and parallel to that margin of the top wrapper of the pile which .is-the last to leave the pile as the conister 12 rolls over it. This endless band is progressively fed through a body of gum, paste or the like 'contained'ina vessel 67 situated above the table at the side of the machine. As the band is drawn through the gum vessel, itgathers upon its surface a deposit of gum. Extending acrossthe wrapper magazine parallel and in close proximity to the, gummed band emerging from the gum vessel, is a straight rod 68 of about diameter. The partially 'wrappedcanister, when it reaches thisrod 68 in canister landing upon it into contact with the corresponding margin of the next wrapper of the pile so' as to deposit a stripe .of gum along said margin.

As the gummed trailing edge margin of the wrapper becomes drawn from between 'the straight rod 68adjacent the gumming band 66 and the next uppermost wrapper of the pile, the stripe of gum which has been applied to said margin in the manner described (that is to say by the action of the previous canister in landing upon the gumming band after riding over the bar) becomes somewhat spread laterally, that is to say, towards the extreme edge of the wrapper, and :in this way the attachment of the overlapping edges of the wrapper, by means of the gum stripe, is enhanced. The canister 12 with the wrapper encircling it now leaves the pile26 of wrapping material altogether and passes on under the control of the friction band 20 to a smooth horizontal shelf '69 along which it is rolled by the friction band to press the said overlapping edges of the'wrapper into adherence with one another.

In order to ensure that the canister shall properly ride over the gum spreading bar aforesaid and land with precision and certainty upon the ,gumming band adjacentsaid bar, that part of the friction band which extends immediately over the, gumming band is arranged to be pressed downwardly towards the gumrning band and gum spreading rod by means of spring loaded pressure rollers 24, 25 having means'whereby their 'loading pressure'may be adjusted at will.

The 'pile of wrappers in the wrappermaga'zine rest upon a magazine floor plate 72 which is movable vertically between the side and end walls of the magazine. .This floor plate is progressively raised in step-by-step manner as the magazine becomes exhausted of Wrappers contained in it. Thus, immediatelyupon a canister being rolled across thepile of wrappers in the magazine, the floor ofthe magazine isautomatically raised a distance exactly equal to the thickness of one sheet of wrapping material.

The means for accomplishing this progressive step-by-step upward advance of the magazine floor may of course take any convenient form. In the present embodiment of the invention such means comprises a rack and pinion feed for the magazine floor the pinions of which are operated by a fine toothed ratchet-and-pawl mechanism operatively connected to the main driving shaft of the machine. On the floor. 72there is a vertical rack 76 which is engaged by .a small pinion'7'7.

Attached tothe pinion 77 is a gear '78 which meshes with a pinion '79 attached to a gear80. This gear 80 meshes with a pinion 81 which is attached to a ratchet wheel 82. There is a lever 83 which is rocked from the rocking shaft '75, (this shaft 75 is itself rocked by the spring link 53 aforesaid) and this lever carries a pawl 84 whereby the oscillations of the shaft 75 are converted to step-by-step rotation of the ratchet wheel 82 and step-by-steplifting of the floor 72. There is a second pawl 85 pivoted to the frame of the machine and held by a weight, 86 on mesh with the ratchet wheel'to prevent reverse movement of it.

There is a hand-operated raising and lowering mechanism for the magazine floor 72, which consists of a rack 8'7, hand wheel 88, and pinion 89.

The Weight ofthe magazine is taken by'a counterweight 90 which is connected by a chain 91 (over suitable sprockets) to the rack 8'7. When it is desired to use the hand mechanism, the operator lifts. the weight 86, thereby removing the pawl 85 from meshwith the ratchet wheel 82, and also the second pawl 84 by reason of a finger 92.

The magazine floor is also provided with a handoperated raising and lowering mechanism-toenable the floor to be lowered for the operation of filling the magazine with a fresh supply of wrappers. This hand-operated raising and lowering mechanism for the floor is separate fromthe automatic fioor feed mechanism, and disconnecting means are provided for disconnecting the automatic mechanismwhen it is required to manipulate-the hand-operated mechanism. g g In order to guide the canisters against lateral excursion from their proper path of movement along the rails 11 aforesaid which lead from the supply chute gate to the wrapper. magazine, a pair of guide bars 73 are provided, one' at each side of the path of the canisters at approximately the level of. theaxis of the canister as it rolls along the rails. Conveniently one of these guide bars may befixed, and the other slightly spring pressed towards the first.

If the canisters to be passed through the machine are notof exactly the same diameter at the two ends they may show a tendency to roll slightly on the skew after: leaving the rails, that is to say while rolling along the pile of wrappers and subsequently the horizontal shelf referred to.

With a view to correcting this tendency the spring-loaded pressure rollers 24, 25 which bear upon the friction-band 20 immediately above the gumming band 66 aforesaid, may be pressed into engagement with the friction band by separately adjustable tension springs atthe two ends of the roller, and the tension of these springs may be differentially adjusted so as to apply more pressure to the friction band at one side thereof than at the other and thereby to counteract the tendency of. the canisters to rollon'the skew.;

The operative connections between the-various moving parts of the unit and the main driving shaft aforesaid, may take anydesired form. In the presentembodiment of the invention, however, a common countershaft 74 is provided extending along the side of the table of the unit, and upon thiscountershaft are mounted a series of cams, one to drive the pamphlet plunger, another to drive the abutment'plunger referred to above, and a third to drive the sucker valve mechanism.

The partly wrapped canister, having been rolled along the horizontal shelf 69 by the friction band 20, is delivered to a conveyor 93 supported on a standard 94 and driven by a roller 95 through pinions 96, 97. The pinion 97 is fast with a bevel gear which meshes with a co-operating bevel gear on the drive shaft '74 of the machine. The conveyor serves to deliver the canisters to the folding unit of the machine which forms the subject of a separate co-pending application Serial No. 611,794 of even date herewith.

I claim:'

1. In a canister-wrapping machine the combination of detent means for regulating the supply of canisters, wrapper-supporting means for supporting a pile of wrappers, positive action feed mechanism, operab1e in timed relationwith said detent means for progressively raising said wrapper-supporting means, a magazine for containing a supply of enclosures to be wrapped in with the canister, means operating in timed relation with said detent means for removing an enclosure from the pile and depositing it on the top of the pile of wrappers, and an endless traveling band for rolling canisters released by said detent means across the top wrapper and an enclosure deposited thereon.

2. A canister wrap ing machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means for removing enclosures from the enclosure magazine and placing them upon the pile of wrappers comprise a gripper mounted upon a sliding element adapted to reciprocate above the pile of wrappers transversely to the direction of movement of the canisters thereover to grip the enclosure from the magazine when at one end of its travel to withdraw it therefrom across the pile and to release it while overlying the pile, said reciprocable member being operated by means working in time with the detents aforesaid so that the enclosure is placed in position prior to the rolling of the canister over the pile of wrappers.

3. A canister wrapping machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means for removing enclosures from the enclosure magazine and placing them upon the pile of wrappers comprise a gripper positively actuated in timed relation with the detent means to reciprocate across the pile of wrappers to grip the lowermost enclosure and to draw it over the top of the pile of wrappers, and reciprocating stops for moving into position over the top of the pile of wrappers and positioning the enclosure on the top wrapper.

WILLIAM HENRY wALL. 

